SUMMER'S GONE HOLD ON (Final Studio Mix 28.10.09)
Lyrics/Vocals - Rachel Whittingham
Guitar/Bass/Synths - Kevceejay
Synths/Production - Bluejooz
SHADOW OF DOUBT (Final Studio Mix 22/07/09)
Lyrics/Vocals - Rachel Whittingham
Guitar/Bass - Kev Carlton-Jones (Kevceejay)
Synths/Production/Backing Vox - Bluejooz
CHASING DREAMS (Demo version 11/06/09)
Lyrics/Vocals - Rachel Whittingham
Synths - Bluejooz
PUPPET MASTER (Studio recording Jan 2009)
Lyrics/Vocals/Bass - Rachel Whittingham
Guitar/Lyrics - Dave Sharples
Synths/Production/Arrangement - Bluejooz
PRIVATELY (Studio Recording 27/12/06)
Lyrics/Vocals - Rachel Whittingham
Lead guitar/Rhythm guitar & inspired vision :-) - Dave Sharples
Synths/Production/Backing Vox - Bluejooz
I LOVE YOU STILL (Live Rehearsal 2000)
Lyrics/Vocals - Rachel Whittingham
Guitar - Dave Sharples
Synths/Production/Backing Vox - Bluejooz
ON MY NERVES (Studio Recording 2004)
Lyrics/Vocals - Rachel Whittingham
Guitar - Greg MacDonald
Synths/Production/Backing Vox - Bluejooz
Cyra Elia has recently reformed after a break of around 5 years. They are currently in rehearsals in preparation for a charity gig on Sunday 29th November 2009 in aid of The Prostate Cancer Charity's worlwide campaign "Grow A MO for MOvember". They have also made several appearances on the local music scene this summer as a semi-acoustic trio performing a mixture of covers & folk-rock originals.
Vocalist, Rachel is also currently working on a new album "Broken Wings & heart strings" which will hopefully be ready for release sometime in early 2010. You can buy her brand new EP "Shadow of Doubt" on iTunes, Amazon, Napster & EMusic NOW!
The current line-up for live shows is Rachel Whittingham (Cyra) - Singer/Songwriter, Greg MacDonald - Guitar/Vocals and Marcus Mitchell - Guitar/Backing Vocals.
Vini Whittingham (Bluejooz), Kev Carlton Jones (kevCeejay) and Dave Sharples are still band members and have regular input into studio work but do not currently perform live with the others.
These days we like to think of Cyra Elia as a collective of musicians rather than one single band. We enjoy working on different projects and in different genres of music. Each band member brings their own unique musical preferences, styles and influences to the group and we feel that this creates a healthy diversity and allows us to be more experimental with our song-writing than ever before. Cyra Elia also enjoys working on collaborations with other artists.
Affiliated bands & links:
www.myspace.com/kevceejayrocks
www.myspace.com/Bluejooz
www.myspace.com/ambientcollective
www.myspace.com/crimzonworld
www.myspace.com/deanvanjones
HISTORY OF THE BAND
Cyra Elia was formed in June 1996 in Preston, Lancashire. The original line-up was Rachel Whittingham (Cyra) - Vocals/Songwriter, Vini Whittingham (Bluejooz) - Synths/Backing Vocals/Production/Arrangements, Dave Sharples - Lead & Rhythm Guitar/Songwriting, Phil Riddell - Bass Guitar.
Together in this line-up Cyra Elia played at many venues around England and Wales. They performed mainly their own original music which can best be catagorised as folk-rock although their music sometimes edged towards other genres such as electro-pop, dance, and ambient. They produced several albums in this line-up including "What You See Is What You Hear", "Sometimes Now" and, the most popular, "Dreamcatcher".
In 1999 the line-up changed because Cyra & Blue moved back home to North Wales. Ian Marshall became the new guitarist and with the new arrival came a new, more commercial pop-rock sound. In 2000 they produced another album, "The Soundtrack" and the band made regular appearances at radio roadshows and charity events. They gained airplay on several radio shows including "The James Whale Talk Show" and had a regular weekend spot at The Cross Keys in Llandudno.
In 2001, the guitarist changed again when the band met 17 year-old, Kev Carlton-Jones (KevCeeJay). He used to play a small set in the break of Cyra Elia's gigs and he was so keen and obviously very talented and he was gradually integrated into the band. Around this time, Cyra Elia had started to become noticed by the local press and almost managed to secure a record deal with a local record label but sadly this particular deal was not meant to be and in 2003 things slowed down a bit. Kev started to write & record some solo tracks and has become a real all-rounder these days. He sings, plays guitar, bass, drums and keys and writes & records his own work. He plays a regular spot at an open mic night at "Alexanders" in Chester. Check him out at www.myspace.com/kevceejayrocks.
Cyra Elia is not complete without mentioning Greg MacDonald the fourth and final guitarist to have played with Cyra & Blue. He played with the band for around a year and appeared with them at several large gigs and private functions before the band officially played their "Farewell Gig" at the Llandudno Festival in 2004. Greg is now one of the 2 guitarists in the most recent line-up of the band, along with his good friend Marcus Mitchell.
Bluejooz then created an on-line record label for ambient musicians around the world www.ambientcollective.com. He regularly collaborates on recordings & albums with many of the Ambient Collective artists.
Blue is also one half of "The Rubiks" - An eighties cover group formed in 2008, primarily for raising money for charity.
Cyra is the other half of "The Rubiks" and as well as performing with Cyra Elia & The Rubiks she has also gravitated back to her roots of musical theatre and she can often be seen performing in musicals at Rhyl Pavilion Theatre and Venue Cymru in North Wales. She has recently been successful in turning her passion for acting into her career and has been touring England & Wales this summer with a production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest", playing the role of Miranda.
You have a lovely voice too. I'll will come to visit again!!
